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The 2009 growing season started with a long dry spring, the vines “woke up” with bud burst in early September and had nice even growth through the season until shoot tips stopped at about the right time in late December.

We were lucky with flowering this year as the wind was not quite as strong as it can be in November and as a result the flowering was all over in 3 weeks for all varieties from Chardonnay to Cabernet. This compact flowering led to even berry set and carried through with even ripening of the grapes until harvest.

As with the rest of the state we had a hot spell over summer our advantage was maximum daytime temps in the mid to high 30’s and night time temps dropping to high teens / low 20’s! This was a major advantage and allowed the vines and fruit to “cool” down. We used irrigation wisely at 1.1 ML per hectare and this in combination with the weather allowed us to control berry size and development.

Harvest started in late February and was all done by early April, we picked on taste not numbers with Sarah and I out in the vineyard every couple of days to get things where we wanted them.

A mild autumn allowed the vines to shut down in there own time with the leaves holding on until late may, pruning is next on the list with another season starting!